


Time Alone Together

by afteriwake



Series: How To Save A Life [1]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Flack's Birthday, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, POV Don Flack, Pre Aiden Burn/Don Flack, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 01, Surprise Party, Tired Don Flack, rooftop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 01:57:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: It's his birthday, but he really doesn't want to celebrate.





	Time Alone Together

**Author's Note:**

> Answered this prompt from my generator: _Don Flack, Jr. / Aiden Burn / rooftop_.

There were a few people at the labs that Flack was close to, most of them for different reasons. Most of them, not for the same reasons, either. And he was cool with that. Some he was closer to than others, like Danny and Stella and Aiden. And while his group of friends was small, he actually preferred it that way. He wasn't a man to trust easily.

He stared out over the crowded rooftop, looking at the people gathered up for a surprise party for his birthday before he turned and looked at the setting sun. He could have sworn everyone had forgotten and then he got home and saw a note in Aiden's handwriting telling him to go up to the roof. He saw a lot of people from work, a few neighbors...wasn't a bad group of people gathered.

But he wasn't really in a mood to be around company. He was more content right now to nurse his beer and just look out over the horizon. Birthdays didn't bother him; he'd gotten as used to the idea of getting older as he had to the idea of dying, and he was pretty used to the fact that one day, he'd be dead.

It was more that he was tired, and he just wanted to be alone.

He smelled her before she got to him. You'd think for a woman as tough as her, she'd wear something that wasn't girly, but Aiden had on a floral perfume that was distinctive even among the other women he knew. And he sensed her before he smelled her...he had been able to sense her for a long time. There was something about her that intrigued him, and because he was intrigued, he started to notice all these little things about her.

"You know, for a guy who's having a party thrown for him, you aren't very festive." She stood close, her fingers almost touching his on the wall enclosing the rooftop.

"Not all that in a festive mood, Aiden," he said, his gaze staying on the horizon as the sun set. "Though, really, I'm glad you all did this."

"I just wrote the note. This was all Stella and Danny's doing," she said, waving the hand holding her drink to the side and behind her.

"Why'd you write the note, anyway?"

"Stella said you'd probably come up here faster if you knew I was up here," she said with a shrug. He turned to her and she flashed him a grin. "You did get up here pretty fast."

"Yeah, well, I thought..."

"What, it'd be just you and me?"

"Yeah," he said. He turned and looked back at the horizon. "These days, I only see you at work. We never get to spend time together anymore."

Aiden nodded. "It stinks, doesn't it?"

"It stinks." Flack took another drink of his beer. "You know why I consider you a friend of mine, Aiden?"

"No, why?"

"Because you don't care that I'm not as educated as you, you still listen to me." He started to take another drink and paused. "Like tonight." He tipped the bottle up and finished off his beer, then started to move away from the edge before he felt her hand on his arm. Soft skin but firm grip...that was Aiden.

"Hey, you gonna leave me over here by myself?" she asked. When he turned to look at her, he could see she wasn't wearing her usual joking expression. "Stick around, for me."

He nodded and moved back next to her. Her hand traveled from his arm to his hand and settled there, and the two of them watched the sunset in silence, ignoring those partying around them, taking a moment to enjoy some needed time together.


End file.
